The Perfect House – But Your iPhone is an iBrick
October 29, 2009
If you were confronted with the choice…
Would you buy the perfect house if it had terrible cell phone reception?
Most people shop around for a home according to the features of the home – number of bedrooms, area, general condition, etcetera. But very few people will pull out their cell phone to see if they get reception there. Tucson, in my experience, has decent cell service, except for the Foothills and some very bizarre black holes in midtown.
Oh, except for my clients with iPhones. You can barely even call those people half the time…
But back to the scenario.
How important is cellular reception in your list of home needs? If everything else was right about the home, would you still buy it if there were terrible reception in the area?
I’m curious. Tell me what you think in the comments below!
What’s The Price Per Square Foot in Tucson?
October 26, 2009
If I told you a house was $175/square foot, is that a good deal or a bad deal?
You can’t really say, can you?
Every so often, I get asked about price per square foot – what is the average price per square foot in Tucson? Really, it isn’t an answerable question.
Think about what that price per square foot figure really tells you – the price and how large the house is under the roof.
What it doesn’t tell me is what condition the house is in, if it has an air conditioner, a pool, a 3 car garage. It doesn’t tell me anything about the lot size or the location. Doesn’t tell me if the house has been updated or not. Doesn’t tell me if that’s a five bedroom house with only one bathroom, if the house is 5 years old or 50, or if there have been unpermitted additions.
In fact, the only time looking at price per square foot makes sense is when you’re looking at a collection of very similar homes – homes of similar size, age, location, condition, and lot size. That’s what we do when we try to determine market value for a home, either to help a home buyer craft an offer, or a home seller price their house. If we can pull together a collection of very similar homes, then yes, we can start talking about price per square foot. Otherwise, comparing price per square foot on homes in different areas is really just extra and misleading information.
Mortgage Rate Trends – Will Rates Go Up or Down?
October 19, 2009
Over at The Mortgage Reports blog, Dan Green keeps a close eye on interest rates and trends.
If we trust history, mortgage interest rates should continue to decline into 2010. The information in the chart below is from Freddie Mac, since 2006.
However, we’re in a different market than we have been in the past few years. There are several conditions that have an upward push on rates – the Fed is ending mortgage market support, inflation concerns on Wall Street, the weakened US Dollar.
Seasonally, rates should go down. Current conditions say they might go up. Will we break trend this year?
Hard to say. If you’re trying to time the market for the lowest rate, you’d better be paying close attention. As should your lender, to alert you in time for you to lock your rate.
Check out the full story here.
What Actually Happens at Closing?
October 9, 2009
Question from the audience: So what actually happens at close of escrow?
Answer: Well, there’s two separate events that occur around close of escrow.
In Arizona, our standard purchase contract says that a home buyer will sign their loan documents no later than 3 days prior to close of escrow. That means we need to come into the escrow office to sign those papers several days before the agreed on closing date that was specified in the contract.
The first event, then, is the signing. Typically, we’ll walkthough the house a day or two before our signing appointment and make sure the house is in generally the same condition as when we wrote the offer and make sure repairs are all complete. On our signing day, you need to bring at least one form of ID to the escrow office, along with a limber signing hand and a cashier’s check for the remainder of your closing costs and down payment. You can also wire these funds directly into the escrow account. And we get that amount needed usually a day or two before we come in to sign.
At the signing, you’ll review and sign all of your loan documents, review a final closing cost break down (called a HUD-1), sign the deed that transfers the property into your name, and various other documents.
And then you wait. If you haven’t transferred utilities into your name, this is a good time to do that.
And then – on the day specified as close of escrow in your purchase contract, the lender releases the loan funds, and as soon as they hit the escrow office’s bank account, escrow will release the documents to be recorded.
And then once they are recorded, you own a home! Usually, that happens around 4pm here in Tucson. Once we know everything has recorded, you can get your keys. And have fun moving! Remember – lift with your legs, not your back…
- Buying Process: Step by Step
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